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This is one of the "lost chapters" intended to appear earlier in the series but was skipped over.

Xiaoyao loses his way at evening in the deep mountains, but a chance meeting saves him from a freezing overnight sojourn.

The hermit takes the opportunity to try and teach Xiaoyao the arcane secrets of the River Diagram--the 河圖--which communicates its crucial message symbolically, using a structured pattern of black and white dots. The structure itself is based upon a magic square of fifteen.

This can be confusing unless you have the diagram in front of you (and maybe even then) so there are several options.
You can download the original pdf article with all the illustrations from this URL:
https://thefatmonk.net/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/9-2_river_diagram.pdf

You can refer to this wikipedia article for the illustration: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yellow_River_Map

or if you want more deeper reference for the relationship of the River Diagram and the verses quoted from the book "Understanding Reality" see this link (in Chinese):
https://wapbaike.baidu.com/tashuo/browse/content?id=9ecbf4e3de00c2d59ec0e147

SHOW NOTES:

Xiaoyao Xingzhe, the self-styled carefree pilgrim, has lived and worked all over the world, having crossed the Gobi in a decrepit jeep, lived with a solitary monk in the mountains of Korea, dined with the family of the last emperor of China, and helped police with their enquiries in Amarillo, Texas.

FAN MAIL is. a new feature now available to leave feedback on episodes, love or hate them. Look for the button in the top ribbon when you click on “Episodes.”

Visit the Fat Monk Website: https://thefatmonk.net/
for pdfs of all recorded chapters and a few more, as well as other bits of interest on Daoism, Buddhism and Neidan, with an emphasis (but not a limitation) on pre-twentieth century authors such as Huang Yuanji and Li Daochun.

If you would like to support the production costs of this podcast, you may do so at Ko-fi.

Check out the wonderful Flora Carbo and her music:
https://floracarbo.com/

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This poem from 張伯端 Zhang Bo-Duan (author of the 悟真篇 Wu Zhen Pian: Understanding Reality, one of the most famous classics of Daoist alchemy) was explained by Master Nan during a seven day Zen retreat held in China.

心内观心觅本心

xīn neì guān xīn mì běn xīn

心心俱绝见真心

xīn xīn jù jué jiàn zhēn xīn

真心明徹通三界

Zhēn xīn míng chè tōng sān jiè

外道邪魔不敢侵

waì daò xié mó bù gǎn qīn

SHOW NOTES:

Xiaoyao Xingzhe, the self-styled carefree pilgrim, has lived and worked all over the world, having crossed the Gobi in a decrepit jeep, lived with a solitary monk in the mountains of Korea, dined with the family of the last emperor of China, and helped police with their enquiries in Amarillo, Texas.

FAN MAIL is. a new feature now available to leave feedback on episodes, love or hate them. Look for the button in the top ribbon when you click on “Episodes.”

Visit the Fat Monk Website: https://thefatmonk.net/
for pdfs of all recorded chapters and a few more, as well as other bits of interest on Daoism, Buddhism and Neidan, with an emphasis (but not a limitation) on pre-twentieth century authors such as Huang Yuanji and Li Daochun.

If you would like to support the production costs of this podcast, you may do so at Ko-fi.

Check out the wonderful Flora Carbo and her music:
https://floracarbo.com/

Send us a text

Li Dao-Chun (李道純) was a 13th century Daoist Master in the line of the famous 4th generation Master of the southern Nei Dan lineage, Bai Yuchan.  Li is author of the Zhōng Hé Jí (中和集) translated as The Book of Balance and Harmony by Thomas Cleary.

This selection, which to my knowledge has not been previously translated, is the valuable preface and introduction to Li Dao-Chun’s Dào Dé Huì Yuán, his commentary on Lao Zi’s Dào Dé Jīng, and the rationale for his edits.

SHOW NOTES:

Xiaoyao Xingzhe, the self-styled carefree pilgrim, has lived and worked all over the world, having crossed the Gobi in a decrepit jeep, lived with a solitary monk in the mountains of Korea, dined with the family of the last emperor of China, and helped police with their enquiries in Amarillo, Texas.

FAN MAIL is. a new feature now available to leave feedback on episodes, love or hate them. Look for the button in the top ribbon when you click on “Episodes.”

Visit the Fat Monk Website: https://thefatmonk.net/
for pdfs of all recorded chapters and a few more, as well as other bits of interest on Daoism, Buddhism and Neidan, with an emphasis (but not a limitation) on pre-twentieth century authors such as Huang Yuanji and Li Daochun.

If you would like to support the production costs of this podcast, you may do so at Ko-fi.

Check out the wonderful Flora Carbo and her music:
https://floracarbo.com/

Send us a text

Bai Yu-Chan (1194-1229?) was a key figure in Southern Song dynasty Daoism and internal alchemy. The following is written as a discussion with his teacher Chen Nan (d. 1213), the fourth patriarch of the Nanzong lineage.

Resolving Confusions in Cultivating Transcendence

(Xiū Xiān Biàn Huò Lùn)《修仙辨惑論》

This excerpt is from section four of the Zazhu Zhixuan Pian (miscellaneous essays guiding toward the mystery) found in Bai’s Xiuzhen Shishu (Ten Books on Cultivating Trueness); other essays in this section include discussions of the valley spirit, ascent and descent of yin and yang, and a discussion on the chamber of the elixir.

This particular passage is notable for how clearly it states that context will determine the meanings of alchemical terms, and for its precise directions regarding getting to grips with the practice.

Visit the Fat Monk Website: https://thefatmonk.net/
for pdfs of all recorded chapters and a few more, as well as other bits of interest on Daoism, Buddhism and Neidan, with an emphasis (but not a limitation) on pre-twentieth century authors such as Huang Yuanji and Li Daochun.

If you would like to support the production costs of this podcast, you may do so at Ko-fi.

Check out the wonderful Flora Carbo and her music:
https://floracarbo.com/

SHOW NOTES:

Xiaoyao Xingzhe, the self-styled carefree pilgrim, has lived and worked all over the world, having crossed the Gobi in a decrepit jeep, lived with a solitary monk in the mountains of Korea, dined with the family of the last emperor of China, and helped police with their enquiries in Amarillo, Texas.

FAN MAIL is. a new feature now available to leave feedback on episodes, love or hate them. Look for the button in the top ribbon when you click on “Episodes.”

Visit the Fat Monk Website: https://thefatmonk.net/
for pdfs of all recorded chapters and a few more, as well as other bits of interest on Daoism, Buddhism and Neidan, with an emphasis (but not a limitation) on pre-twentieth century authors such as Huang Yuanji and Li Daochun.

If you would like to support the production costs of this podcast, you may do so at Ko-fi.

Check out the wonderful Flora Carbo and her music:
https://floracarbo.com/

Send us a text

Xiaoyao meets his old friend Ante Babic, who reveals his discovery of a secret system of life training that the Chinese have instituted without anyone taking notice: the institution of Yum Cha (or "Dim Sum").

SHOW NOTES:

Xiaoyao Xingzhe, the self-styled carefree pilgrim, has lived and worked all over the world, having crossed the Gobi in a decrepit jeep, lived with a solitary monk in the mountains of Korea, dined with the family of the last emperor of China, and helped police with their enquiries in Amarillo, Texas.

FAN MAIL is. a new feature now available to leave feedback on episodes, love or hate them. Look for the button in the top ribbon when you click on “Episodes.”

Visit the Fat Monk Website: https://thefatmonk.net/
for pdfs of all recorded chapters and a few more, as well as other bits of interest on Daoism, Buddhism and Neidan, with an emphasis (but not a limitation) on pre-twentieth century authors such as Huang Yuanji and Li Daochun.

If you would like to support the production costs of this podcast, you may do so at Ko-fi.

Check out the wonderful Flora Carbo and her music:
https://floracarbo.com/

Send us a text

Liu Yiming was one of the greatest Daoists of the eighteenth century, with numerous writings on all the Daoist classics.

He corresponded with numerous disciples and other devout lay people throughout the country, describing in many cases his owns travails on the Path and the various teachers he learned with.

He may then provide spiritual advice for his correspondent (at which point it becomes obligatory to state that attempting to follow spiritual advice designed for another is tantamount to taking someone else’s medical presription).

In either case, to date very little of Liu’s correspondence has made it through into English. Here are two samples.

SHOW NOTES:

Xiaoyao Xingzhe, the self-styled carefree pilgrim, has lived and worked all over the world, having crossed the Gobi in a decrepit jeep, lived with a solitary monk in the mountains of Korea, dined with the family of the last emperor of China, and helped police with their enquiries in Amarillo, Texas.

FAN MAIL is. a new feature now available to leave feedback on episodes, love or hate them. Look for the button in the top ribbon when you click on “Episodes.”

Visit the Fat Monk Website: https://thefatmonk.net/
for pdfs of all recorded chapters and a few more, as well as other bits of interest on Daoism, Buddhism and Neidan, with an emphasis (but not a limitation) on pre-twentieth century authors such as Huang Yuanji and Li Daochun.

If you would like to support the production costs of this podcast, you may do so at Ko-fi.

Check out the wonderful Flora Carbo and her music:
https://floracarbo.com/

Send us a text

Xiaoyao ventures into the Mundus Imaginalis, and finds strangeness, unexpected encounters and … welcome.

“Joyful the moment when we sat in the bower, Thou and I;

In two forms and two faces—with one soul, Thou and I.

The colour of the garden and the song of the birds give the elixir of immortality

The instant we come into the orchard, Thou and I.

This is stranger, that Thou and I, in this corner here …

Are both in one breath in Iraq, and in Khorasan – Thou and I.”

Jalāl al-dīn Rumi

SHOW NOTES:

Xiaoyao Xingzhe, the self-styled carefree pilgrim, has lived and worked all over the world, having crossed the Gobi in a decrepit jeep, lived with a solitary monk in the mountains of Korea, dined with the family of the last emperor of China, and helped police with their enquiries in Amarillo, Texas.

FAN MAIL is. a new feature now available to leave feedback on episodes, love or hate them. Look for the button in the top ribbon when you click on “Episodes.”

Visit the Fat Monk Website: https://thefatmonk.net/
for pdfs of all recorded chapters and a few more, as well as other bits of interest on Daoism, Buddhism and Neidan, with an emphasis (but not a limitation) on pre-twentieth century authors such as Huang Yuanji and Li Daochun.

If you would like to support the production costs of this podcast, you may do so at Ko-fi.

Check out the wonderful Flora Carbo and her music:
https://floracarbo.com/

Send us a text

Xiaoyao enters a hidden chamber and witnesses a strange dance, before learning more about "medicine," the gathering of scattered medicine and use of it, and its exoteric and esoteric processes.

The "Earth of Attention" (意土 yì tǔ) centering the ascending elements of hún (魂) and shén (神) against the descending elements of pò (魄) and jing (精), the evoking of presence as a method of working, and the difference between "heavy" and "light" thinking.

And the importance of the saying "Once the fish is caught, you can discard the net."

SHOW NOTES:

Xiaoyao Xingzhe, the self-styled carefree pilgrim, has lived and worked all over the world, having crossed the Gobi in a decrepit jeep, lived with a solitary monk in the mountains of Korea, dined with the family of the last emperor of China, and helped police with their enquiries in Amarillo, Texas.

FAN MAIL is. a new feature now available to leave feedback on episodes, love or hate them. Look for the button in the top ribbon when you click on “Episodes.”

Visit the Fat Monk Website: https://thefatmonk.net/
for pdfs of all recorded chapters and a few more, as well as other bits of interest on Daoism, Buddhism and Neidan, with an emphasis (but not a limitation) on pre-twentieth century authors such as Huang Yuanji and Li Daochun.

If you would like to support the production costs of this podcast, you may do so at Ko-fi.

Check out the wonderful Flora Carbo and her music:
https://floracarbo.com/

Send us a text

Zhuangzi tells the story of Tian Gen who meets the Man without a Name, one who wanders amongst and between the worlds, in a subtle realm with no borders.

But how do we know when we have slipped into a subtle realm? There are a few indications: TIME feels different, flexible and shifting; PLACE is no longer so fixed and determinate; PERSONS manifest a light--or a darkness--depending upon the state they are inhabiting at the moment; and our STATE carries a feeling as if we are dreaming and yet alert and awake at one and the same time.

This bonus episode continues to introduce material that will be important for understanding Chapters 23 and 24 of the Fat Monk when they appear. The subject matter is a bit more difficult and dense, but well worth the effort (IMHO) of taking slowly and considering over an extended period of time.

Here is a link for those who would like to access the whole of which this episode is merely the final half of a précis.
http://tinyurl.com/publicsenseofnonsense

Errata:
a) The word "Frodo" is missing when the Nazgul and Weathertop and Frodo's temptation to slip the ring onto his finger is mentioned.
b) The poem that concludes the episode was written by JRR Tolkein. 

SHOW NOTES:

Xiaoyao Xingzhe, the self-styled carefree pilgrim, has lived and worked all over the world, having crossed the Gobi in a decrepit jeep, lived with a solitary monk in the mountains of Korea, dined with the family of the last emperor of China, and helped police with their enquiries in Amarillo, Texas.

FAN MAIL is. a new feature now available to leave feedback on episodes, love or hate them. Look for the button in the top ribbon when you click on “Episodes.”

Visit the Fat Monk Website: https://thefatmonk.net/
for pdfs of all recorded chapters and a few more, as well as other bits of interest on Daoism, Buddhism and Neidan, with an emphasis (but not a limitation) on pre-twentieth century authors such as Huang Yuanji and Li Daochun.

If you would like to support the production costs of this podcast, you may do so at Ko-fi.

Check out the wonderful Flora Carbo and her music:
https://floracarbo.com/

Send us a text

"Ru zi, ke jiao ye!"

The Hermit tests Xiaoyao, who thinks that the Hermit will teach him about locating herbs in the mountains.

The Reality, however ....

SHOW NOTES:

Xiaoyao Xingzhe, the self-styled carefree pilgrim, has lived and worked all over the world, having crossed the Gobi in a decrepit jeep, lived with a solitary monk in the mountains of Korea, dined with the family of the last emperor of China, and helped police with their enquiries in Amarillo, Texas.

FAN MAIL is. a new feature now available to leave feedback on episodes, love or hate them. Look for the button in the top ribbon when you click on “Episodes.”

Visit the Fat Monk Website: https://thefatmonk.net/
for pdfs of all recorded chapters and a few more, as well as other bits of interest on Daoism, Buddhism and Neidan, with an emphasis (but not a limitation) on pre-twentieth century authors such as Huang Yuanji and Li Daochun.

If you would like to support the production costs of this podcast, you may do so at Ko-fi.

Check out the wonderful Flora Carbo and her music:
https://floracarbo.com/